South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office with United States President Donald Trump My most recent More than Music documentary on NPR ponders the South African tour of the remarkable University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, led by Kenneth Kiesler. The tour happened to coincide with inflamed relations between South Africa and President Donald Trump. I … [Read more...] about “A Service to the Nation” — The University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra Tours South Africa
Uncategorized
“Aida” in South Africa: a Sonic Earthquake
Photo: Oscar O'Ryan Never in an opera house have I thrilled to such a sonic earthquake as the wall of sound produced by the Cape Town Opera in its current production of Verdi’s Aida. In the triumphal scene, the stage is packed with robust Black voices, all functioning at full throttle. A decibel more would be painful to the ears. A crucial ingredient – the … [Read more...] about “Aida” in South Africa: a Sonic Earthquake
“A Tale of Two Cities” — Music and Race in Boston and New York
My latest installment of “More than Music” on NPR explores racial attitudes in Boston and New York at the turn of the twentieth century. During Antonin Dvorak’s historic American sojourn (1892-95), he was classified by Boston’s music critics as a “Slav” – a rung below Anglo-Saxons like Beethoven. The leading Boston critic, Philip Hale, also called Dvorak a … [Read more...] about “A Tale of Two Cities” — Music and Race in Boston and New York
Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa Continued: the University of Michigan Concert Orchestra Goes to Soweto
The Soweto audience erupts. Video by Mathew Pimental Among my most telling experiences of South Africa, when I first visited in 2023, was encountering a group of uniformed schoolchildren passing through security at the Johannesburg airport. They were all singing, beautifully and happily. It is a singing country. Jeremy Silver, Director of Opera at the University of Cape … [Read more...] about Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa Continued: the University of Michigan Concert Orchestra Goes to Soweto
American Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa Right Now, Courtesy of the University of Michigan
Video by Mathew Pimental At the precise moment that US President Donald Trump was accusing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of denying acts of racial persecution, the University of Michigan Orchestra began a five-concert tour of South Africa with a smashing two and half hour program at the University of Pretoria. The main work on the program was a neglected … [Read more...] about American Cultural Diplomacy in South Africa Right Now, Courtesy of the University of Michigan